Category: Getting to Know You
If anyone would like to know about Jehovah's witnesses, please do not hesitate to ask, and I shall respond. However, if I do not know the answer to a particular question, I shall research it in the bible.
Please note, this topic is for anyone interested in knowing about Jehovah's witnesses, what we do, and anything else concerning our organization and beliefs. Also, I will post links to our monthly magazines, the watchtower and Awake.
These magazines contain interesting information, not just on bible-based topics, but also on creation, and encouraging stories.
So, if you have any questions, please also visit:
http://www.jw.org/
Thanks.
i'd like to know what Jehovah's witnesses believe about the afterlife, what happens when we die.
it's a topic that's always interested me (after life belief in diffrent religions)
I'd be curious to know this as well. My own Christian belief system is pretty in-depth on the topic, but for a lot of Christianity it seems to be you go to heaven or hell and either suffer for eternity or dwell with Jesus, whatever either of those things actually means. I actually know next to nothing about the JW faith, other than their missionaries seem to be the wipping boy for most missionary-related jokes and insults. Also, is the inability to do things like blood transfusions a staple of all JW belief, or do just some people follow it? I always figured God answers prayers for the sick and afflicted, but he also gave us the technology and knowledge to treat our sick and afflicted too. seems to me like that old joke where the man's trapped on the roof during a flood. He prays for God to save him. God sends three means of being saved, but the man rejects all of them saying "god will save me". When he gets to the afterlife he asks why God didn't help, to which God answers "I sent you three different means of being saved. Why didn't you use one?"
Ah, good questions.
My question was always why birthdays aren't celebrated?
For the life of me, I can't see how that is sinful to enjoy another persons passage to another year, or celebrate there life?
As I understand it, and please correct me if I'm wrong OP) no holiday is celebrated.
Guess we got promised, excited, and the poster has not come back.
Must have gone to heaven already.
Laughing.
I am teasing, I honestly would like answers to all the questions put to you.
It is interesting.
Well, he/she did say they'd do their research before posting. So you never know.
Okay. I'll see.
The bible states that the dead will be resurrected to earth, and assist in restoring the earth to a perfect paradise. Read revelation 21, verses 3 and 4.
As to blood transfusions, blood is sacred to God, and we attempt to uphold God's commandments. (1 John 5, verse 3)
The celebration of birthdays, is a pagan tradition. The bible contains 2 accounts of birthdays, each ending with executions. The pharaoh of Egypt, (18th century b.c.e (before our common era)) executed his chief baker, and Herod Antipas (1st century c.e (common era)) beheaded John the baptizer. Those are 2 occasions that were noted in the bible, and birthdays therefore are not celebrated.
Instead, what me and my Aunt and Uncle do, is we have a meel acknowledging the day. The thing we do not do, however, is sing "Happy birthday" or exchange gifts. In my opinion, life, is a gift, given by the greatest gift giver, God himself. Also, as a bit of a sidenote, psalm 83 verse 18 contains God's Name, Jehovah. It is based on the tetragrammaton, yhwh or jhvh.
Hi everyone.
This month's magazine, is entitled:
When disaster strikes, steps to prepare
Https://download-a.akamaihd.net/files/media_magazines/8f/g_E_201710.pdf
This is the awake magazine, which used to be named the golden age (g e)
Have fun
Ah, in that case, you'd need to get rid of a few more things that are Pagan.
But, okay, you've explained.
Yes, that's right. Also christmas, and easter. The only thing we observe the memorial of Jesus death. That falls around march/april each year, coinciding with Nisan 14. We use the hebrew calendar when it comes to that kind of thing. Jesus even said "Keep doing this in rememberance of me.
Interesting. So fascinating, and a little unsettling, that so many ideas and belief systems can all stem from the same texts. Luckily one thing most Christians can agree on is that having Faith in and accepting Christ while striving to keep his commandments to the best of our abilities are what is most important. SO even if many of the ideas get all muddled because of translations and human interpretation, it shouldn't really matter in the long run. Do you believe Jesus Christ and his father are one entity, or separate? In my church, it is believed that Jesus Christ (whose real name we believe to be Jahova, his father, whose name we believe to be Elohim and the Holy Ghost whose name and nature we don't know all that much about are three separate individuals, but one in purpose, which is why Jesus says "the father and I are one." I've never understood how soooo many churches consider the three to be one single entity when most of Christ's actions, such as praying to and speaking to his father, and his father speaking to others about him rather contradict that. The trinity has always baffled me, and I think it's really more a result of the Nicean creed rather than divine guidance. What do you believe about that? And if they are all one entity, what do you believe about all the passages that suggest otherwise?
The bible speaks truth. Jesus said that "no one comes to the father except through me". I was drawn to study the bible.
The thing that drew me, is the fact that sickness, including blindness, will be removed soon. We are in the last days of this system, (Read 1st Timothy 3, 1 to 5) and that scripture fortells attitudes in our day.
I went to a meeting (we don't have church services, we have encouraging meetings)
If you'd still like to know more, you can easily contact me off the board, at blindbrother1914@icloud.com
even my eMail address has a special meaning. The year 1914 was when God's kingdom came into rool.
As for praying, matthew 6 contains the "Lord's prayer". "Our father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified; Let your kingdom come; let your will take place, as in heaven, also on earth." The trinity can easily be debunked by the bible, this is how I reason from the scriptures. So if Jehovah was Jesus, how could Jesus become god again when he was resurrected back to heaven again? Stephen, one of Jesus apostles saw that Jesus was at the right hand of Jehovah." And, as for the "holy spirit" that is Jehovah's guiding force that assists us. I can feel that he is helping me to answer your questions, which are easy thanks to wol.jw.org
Please do not hesitate to eMail me if you have further questions as well. You can post the questions here, and eMail me if you'd like, I'm always happy to assist :)
I have created a zello channel for anyone who'd like to join. It's named Jw chat, the password is Ezekiel. I chose that password due to the fact that Ezekiel prophesied that we all need to be marked for survival. We all are nearly at the time of the end, when Jesus abysses Satan for 1000 years (1000 years is a day to God) in that 1000 years, Jesus will rool as king, until the earth has fully been restored to a paradise. After that, he'll release satan who will try to poison us again before being removed forever. After that, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to Jehovah, who will rule over us with loyal love, kindness and purity.
Next.
Tell me why these meettings have separate partitions.
If you fall, you are basicly sent to the other room.
If you believe in Jesus teachings, then why are you not forgiving?
It be a pagan thing to oust the bad, but Christians are suppose to embrace them, and love them.
Through love/forgiveness, we become stronger and the fallen, so to speak are lead back by grace.
From what I understand, not even your close relatives are allowed to speak to you if you've done something wrong.
Am I correct?
Also, for the record, I am not asking questions so be mean or try to make your faith look bad. I am sincerely interested in the why.
I am also not interested in becoming a JW, so my questions aren't for that reason either.
Never a problem at all.
Disfellowshipping, is to keep the congregation clean. The disfellowshipping is Jehovah's way of showing that he wants us to be with him, but we can only be with him if we repent and stop doing the bad thing which we were disfellowshipped for.
Another reason that we disfellowship wrongdoers, is due to the fact that the congregation needs to remain clean, in order for Jehovah to use us, and for us to represent him. The 1st action of disfellowshipping is when Jehovah expelled Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden.
Cain was banished and became a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth.
So, why not tell them to stay home until they can behave?
Next, if you don't catch them, what makes you so sure your congregation's clean?
Does Jehovah forgive you for not knowing?
Even Adam and Eve were forgiven?
If you believe in Jesus, what does he say about sins?
In a nutshell, is Jehovah unforgiving 100% as the leaders, or finger pointers of the congregation?
Jesus hung out with prostitutes, and his main gang were a bunch of crooks. What does the JW say about this?
Jehovah can see what happens, and he will reveal it to the elders in 1 way or another. Jehovah is more than God, in my opinion, he's a gift. He's given us life.
An interesting idea surrounding disfellowshipping. What does that mean for someone exactly? We have a disfellowship program in our church, but it is generally a private affair. A disfellowshipped person can not pass or take the sacrament (The bread and water symbolizing a renewing of our covenants to take upon ourselves the name of Christ), they can't participate in church talks (anyone could be called on to give a talk in our sacrament meeting (church service), and they can't, if I recall, comment in meetings. Might be wrong about that last. They can however keep coming to church, read their scriptures and do pretty much anything else. It's not considered a punishment as much as part of the repentance process. The reasons for disfellowship are usually quite severe: severe sexual misconduct, many types of abuse etc. it's not meant to be a shunning excersize though in my church because to shun would be to drive people away. And Jesus doesn't want anyone driven away. That's not to say people don't get shunned by some members when it is found out. Judgemental people are verywhere, in and outside of churches.
Anyone who gets disfellowshipped, cannot associate with anyone in the congregation. However, they are able to attend the meetings. We observe the bible commandments as much as possible, we don't even pass around bread and water. The only time bread is passed around, is at the memorial of Jesus Death.
Also, we use wine, to symbolize Christ's blood, and the bread (unlevened, of course) to symbolize Christ's body. The only ones that are able to eat and drink those things, are the anointed ones still on earth today, the rest of the 144000. The little flock is going to rule over the great croud on earth.
Wow. That's really sad. Can they be refellowshipped? Or is that just .... it? Seems like very harsh punishment for imperfect humans if there's no way to return. I mean, What sorts of crimes can one be disfellowshipped for? I looked into it, but the sources were questionable. At least I sure hope they are, because some of the infractions I've found are really quite petty, especially if shunning is absolute. Biblicly it seams a bit counter-intuitive as well.
Of course they can be welcomed back. If they apologise to Jehovah and resolve to never do that again, they are welcomed back.
Well, this is a question and answer board, so I'll not post my thoughts.
Tell me this, how are marages decided?
Jahova is a forgiving deity. His congregation however? Not so much. What does it do to a person when they are disfellowshipped, but then welcomed back? Are people willing to see past the flaws and re-embrace the offender after not long ago shunning them?
We only marry within the congregation. We all forgive each other, no one is perfect yet.
Lastly, there are a great many "Christian" churches out there. One might even say too many. All with their own systems of belief. what aspects of the JW faith make it stand out as the path to Christ you have adopted? (Not asking for controversy's sake, honestly curious.) Did you grow up in it?
There are 15 differences that we have:
1. We use God's name, Jehovah (Psalm 83, verse 18 contains his name)
2. We pray to Jehovah in Jesus name;
3. We teach that the dead are conscious of nothing, and they cannot haunt, harm, or even contact us;
4. We base every answer on scriptural evidence;
5. We teach that there is no hell, but the word "Hades" and "Sheol" are the words for grave;
6. We are the only organization that goes from door to door preaching the good news of the kingdom;
7. We have donation boxes on the literature counter for ANYONE, even newcomers, to place donations into, it's not a compulsory requirement;
8. We hold the last supper (the lord's evening meal) as the most sacred celebration.
9. Jehovah's witnesses are organized by a governing body, guided by holy spirit.
10. Elders oversee the working of each congregation;
11. Jehovah's witnesses believe that we are nearly at the end of satan's rule, the world is currently lying in the power of the wicked one (1st John, 5 19)
12. We also attempt to imitate Jesus as closely as possible;
13. We look forward to the bible's last prophecy, in revelation 21 verses 3 and 4, due to the fact that death will be no more.
14. We believe, that no one is greater than God, Jesus is the head of our worldwide congregation of nearly 9000000 members.
15. We view both the HEBREW-ARAMAIC SCRIPTURES and the CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES, as both haveing important value in our time.
I was baptised 5 years ago, and first started studying 6 years ago.
I love the jw library app, free from the app store and google play, it's got thousands of good books, publications, dramas, dramatic bible readings, and even the bible can be streamed from there.
The new world translation is easier to understand, and we have replaced Jehovah's name in all the 7000 times it was used.
jehovah is great and everything, but why are you so big on the old testament
and it's traditions? What about saved by grace?
I am bothered by the cain and able example you gave, maybe we shouldn't use
that as grounds as to why we do things? isn't the new testament a bit more
relevant than the old one? We are no longer under the law, isn't that correct?
Hi:
All the bible is relevant today, Ezekiel saw the wheels, which are part of God's heavenly organization, who guide the governing body on earth. Jw library, is free and accessible. It contains many translations, including the king james version. We, however use the new world translation. Psalm 83 verse 18 contains God's name, Jehovah.
Before proceeding, I’d like to say that I’m a skeptic asking out of sheer curiosity, and of course to try to puzzle out some inconsistencies or what I think are inconsistencies floating in my head. So feel free to correct anything I say as I have no doubt that I can be wrong.
I’ll restrict my question to focus on the nature of Jesus, the son of God as described in the Bible.
A good friend of mine is a JW. One thing she has never been able to explain to me is how Jesus and Michael the archangel are the same being/creature. I’m no theologian but I’ve read through the Bible twice in my lifetime, and didn’t do so free of bias and incredulity. That’s one strike against me. Anyway, according to my faulty memory, the nature of Jesus before the incarnation is not totally clear. All the Bible seems to point to is his characteristics, powers and other attributes before his earthly life. So where in the Bible does it definitively state that they (Jesus and Michael) are the same? I have been referred to passages in the Book of Daniel, Psalms, Proverbs as well as some of Paul’s writings.
The scriptural evidence she takes as being strongest for Jesus/Michael being the same is where Jesus is described as descending from heaven with the voice of an archangel. But I am unable to see how the JWs have reached the conclusion that this voice belongs to Jesus. This passage has nothing to do with Jesus’ nature or character. Instead it is describing the event of his earthly return and other events related to his return. To conclude that this passage shows Jesus is Michael because a voice will be heard announcing the Second Coming, well, it’s like saying that Satan and his minions are represented by the reptile/snake family simply because the snake spoke with the voice of angels. There are other passages that are similarly used, but these arguments beg the question. I can provide examples upon request.
One point I do agree with is that the Trinity is an erroneous doctrine. So what exactly is God/Jehovah? What is Jesus? What is (the) holy spirit? I know JWs claims regarding (the) holy spirit. I doubt an honest person who’s read the Bible and believes it’s the word of God can say that there is no longer any mystery to God and his nature. The traditional view of God’s character is that he’s omniscient, omnipotent, all-good and omnipresent, but somehow I think this tradition is dated and in need of revision. I understand that the Bible says God is spirit and the Almighty, there is no other above him or like him. I accept that the Bible says this and that still it’s a great mystery. But as for his son, why can’t it be said that Jesus’s rank in the hierarchy is unknown as of yet. I don’t see why it’s hard for some people to live with the possibility that Jesus’s nature before coming to earth is as mysterious as God’s. Perhaps he wasn’t an angel before his earthly existence. Perhaps he represents a unique class of creature that hasn’t been entirely understood or glimpsed by mere mortals, such as partly angel, partly like his father. Or why is it impossible that Jesus’ nature is in no way like that of the angels’?
Someone, anyone, help me understand a little better what Christianity says this being called Jesus was/is. if that is even possible...
Hi:
Before Jesus humbled himself, and took a human form, he was Michael, and he is now ruling in heaven, guiding all the 8500000 Jehovah's witnesses, through the governing body, also known as the faithful and discreet slave, as mensioned in the bible.
Hi Rascol, I think you're going to find very different interpretations on the nature of God, Christ and the Holy Ghost depending on which religion you ask. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for instance, God (Elohim) is a being very much of flesh and bone, but one perfected. Still Omnecient, and all that and still just as powerful as any Christian believes him to be. We humans were made in his image. There is also a Heavenly mother as well, though we know so little about her that she is rarely spoken of. While we are all spirit children of Elohim, Jesus Christ (Jahova being his actual name) is the only begotten son of the father in the flesh. Meaning he is the only one born of a human woman. There's all sorts of reasons this was necessary and no, the father forcing torture upon his son is not one of them. Under guidance of Elohim, Jahova and Michael created this world. Michael, it is widely believed is actually the first man, Adam. As for who the Holy Ghost is, I don't think we really know. There's speculation of course, but nothing concrete. In the end I suppose it doesn't matter all that much who is right. I think death will be the great revealer. Until then, all we Christians can do is have our faith, try our best to live it and see what happens.
Charley. I have a question for you. You mention the 85000 Jahova's witnesses. First, surely there are more of you than that, aren't there? Secondly, what about thos of us who likewise believe in, have faith in and follow Jesus Christ who are not of that exact religious persuasion? What happens to us?
We are nearly at 9000000 people. Those who do not know or listen to God right now, they will get another chance in the future after the resurrection. If they still do not want anything to do with God as the bible truely makes him out to be, kind, loving, and patient, then they'll experience the 2nd death. Hell, is nonexistent, hell is simply the grave. Gihena, is another term used in some bible translations, however that just means the 2nd death, from where there is no awakening, and where there is no suffering. God, is not cruel, he does not torture those who do not obey him.
Interesting, we have something similar in that all those who die without a knowledge of the gospel will yet have a chance to learn about and accept it. For us Hell is likewise more of a state. There is a place called Outer Darkness, but it is reserved for Satan and the third Host, as well as a very select few people who have committed the unpardonable sin of outright denying the Holy Ghost after first receiving certain witness that all of this is in fact real. Not many will be doing that though.
Charlie what is the actual proof that Jesus is Michael when he rose? Not just
Jesus?
good questions Ras.
It does depend though, I am more traditional protestant than Remy or Charlie
but I am not traditional at all. I'd be called an evangelical fundamentalist I
suppose that's the closest thing you can call me. I am some sort of protestant
at least.
I don't believe michael is the same as Jesus personally, but that's what the Jws
does. I think that's an incorrect assumption. and the trinity I believe in.
Now since this is focused on Jws those are actually good questions. If you want
to know more of the protestant views then PQN me.
I've always been curious about how people have come to the conclusion that God, jesus and the Holy Ghost are the same being. Even though Jesus does ay "The father and I are one" and similar such things, he spends so much time praying to his father, even while alone and having his father speak separately from him during his baptism that I've often been confused by the notion that they are the same entity. I picture the debate that must have gone on during the council of Nicea when that idea was put forth and then later canonized. I've always taken it to mean that they are one in purpose, not form, and that to know Christ is to know the father also. As for the Holy GHost, I suppose that one I could get behind, since there really isn't much written about him/her/it.